One of Wall Street banks' biggest businesses is taking heat from competitors old and new.
Many big banks are seeing fees from wealth and investment management divisions fall, putting a crimp in critical revenue at a time when Wall Street is having an increasingly tough time matching their return on equity targets.
Goldman Sachs' most recent earnings report noted that investment management net revenue of $1.35 billion fell 18 percent from the second quarter of the prior year, and on the bank's earnings call CFO Harvey Schwartz noted that average fees are coming down. While fees are falling all over Wall Street, there's a chance that at least Goldman can make it up in the long run on volume: the bank said it saw client inflows in both cash and long-term assets.
Other wealth managers are seeing top clients add to cash holdings on fears of market turbulence and geopolitical conflict. And falling fees on Wall Street rarely come without job cuts too far behind them.